26/08/2026
Why do we need new approaches to bowel cancer?
One of the exciting developments in cancer treatment has been immunotherapy – using the body's own immune system to recognise and attack cancer.
But these newer treatments that have transformed the treatment of some cancers haven't had the same success in bowel cancer.
Why?
That's one of the questions researchers at the Fiona Elsey Cancer Research Institute are working to answer.
Their research is investigating how bowel cancer suppresses the immune response within a tumour and how microbes in the bowel may play a role in weakening the body's natural defences against cancer.
If researchers can better understand how bowel cancer hides from our immune system, it could help identify pathways towards new treatments.
Research takes time. It takes brilliant people. And it takes funding.
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